# Whirling Dervishes

- By: Jean Baptiste Vanmour (Valenciennes, 1671–1737)
- Date: c. 1720 - c. 1737
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: height 76 cm x width 101 cm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-4081--b543a4bc5faee72e5a1a0f7d3c3bff1b)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/WWphG/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Dervishes occupied a special place in religiously tolerant Istanbul. Through prayer, music and ecstatic dance, they tried to enter into a trance and thus come into contact with Allah. Twice a week they performed this dance ceremony, which visitors were allowed to watch. Vanmour must have regularly sat in the gallery to study the whirling of the dervishes.